Called
by faithinthecharm
Summary: Set after 5.22 a new Slayer is called conjouring up a face from Giles' past and helping Dawn to deal with her pain. Please R
1. Vigilante

A/N Hey, my limited fanbase, I've changed my name from Purplebeetlewings to faithinthecharm, because...well because I wanted to, please don't leave me because I felt like a change.

This is set mostly after Buffy's second death, (episode 5.11) with this first, small, prologue type chapter takes place during the time frame of this episode but does not refer to it. It also assumes that Buffy's death would call a new fifteen year old Slayer. Once again it's short but think of it as the intro before the titles.

As with everything else please read and review

Thanks

Faith

**Called**

**Chapter 1**

**Vigilante **

The girl stalked though corridor atrium, cursing, these were damned places, always open, the signs saying 'come on in' and 'everyone welcome' making this place like open season, all these drunken students, totally unaware of the danger everywhere around them.

They were more aware of her, she was only fifteen, but she looked closer to nineteen, she walked with careful purpose with her shoulders high and her entire aura oozed focus.

She walked further, into the dim light of a stairwell. She saw movement and stepped into the shadows so as not to be seen.

An intoxicated man stumbled towards her, she breathed in deeply. She couldn't smell booze, he was drugged up, which was exactly what she was looking for.

As she watched a vampire slid out the shadows and walked towards the man, who was so out of it he didn't even notice as the vampire's face slid out of human form. Well, actually, the idiotic guy did notice, he pointed at the creatures demonic visage and giggled.

The girl sighed heavily at the state of the guy and actually stood still for almost a heartbeat as the creature lunged, considering letting the monster eat the stoner.

That heartbeat was almost enough. The guys blunted sense of fear and slowed movements meant that the vamp' connected with his neck almost immediately.

"Dammit, stop hesitating Catie'!"

She kicked out at the vamp who pulled the druggie closer to himself and looked at her an eyebrow raised. He wasn't expecting a fight.

"Slayer!"

"Actually no... but it won't make that much difference to you, because you're going to be dead pretty soon. Drop the junkie and play."

The vampire threw the stoned, still giggling stoner to one side, where he bounced off a wall and slid onto his ass.

"So you're not a Slayer eh girly?"

"Not officially, no, I'm just a vigilante for now, but, I'm close enough."

"I imagine you'll still taste good."

"Well, yeah, I'm young, I'm supple and I'm not going to be killed by you. I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to find your middle man."

The vampire smirked, but the expression was swiftly wiped off his face as the girls left foot connected with his lower jaw and he was thrown against the wall. It stayed where it was for a second, shocked by the force behind the flow.

However he recovered quickly and he lunged at her. The fight was on.


	2. The Egg Trick

**Chapter 2**

**The Egg Trick**

The vampire exploded into dust, but Catlin almost didn't notice.

She had felt the power surge through her. She knew she was a Slayer now.

She had killed the vampire quickly and ran past the junkie. It wasn't usual that she left someone like that, when they needed her, but something had happened in those moments that had made her earlier statement a lie. She really needed to speak to her father. The junkie continued to giggle.

Cate entered the house in a whirl of noise and panic.

"Dad?" Her father was sitting in the kitchen, reading the newspaper by the light of a desk lamp, waiting for her to blow in.

"Catlin, we've talked about this! You won't find what you're looking for!"

"I don't need to find it any more. It found me!"

She walked to the 'fridge, reached into it and tossed an egg to her father.

"Catie?"

"Just try it Dad!"

He looked at her questioningly for a moment, but then stepped to the back of the kitchen, while she stepped back towards the door.

She stood loose limbed and lazy. He bowled the egg underarm. It flew across the kitchen. Catlin's arm shot up and she snatched it out of the air without even marking the shell, let alone breaking it. Sounds easy, but really no mean feat when you consider that her father had been an almost international standard fast bowler, who still kept his skills sharp at the local cricket club.

This had been her parents party piece until her mother's death. Only someone with the supernatural reflexes and speed could do 'the egg trick' without breaking the shell. Only someone with the speed and reflexes of the Slayer.

Catlin tossed the unblemished egg back in her fathers direction, but he didn't catch it. He stood stunned as the egg dropped and became a sticky mess on the floor.

"Look, Dad, I know it wasn't perhaps the best way, but I wasn't totally sure until we tried the egg trick."

"Wasn't the best way?... It was maybe the worst... Are you sure?... Of course you're sure...Aren't you?...I have to call the Council..."

Her father turned away from her obviously flustered. As she watched him go, her spirits sank and she fled up the stairs and slammed the door to her room, but not quite fast enough to avoid hearing her father on the 'phone demanding to 'speak to whoever was in charge in that damned place.'

Cate curled up on her bed, back to the door, face to the wall, determined not to cry, but she curled her fists so tightly that her nails drew crescents of blood from her palms.

She heard the door click as her father entered the room and settled on the far end of her bed. She drew her feet closer to her chin so as not to be near him.

"Sweetie...I'm sorry...I just...I don't want to lose you too..."

She turned to look at him over her shoulder.

"I'm not her you know...I'm not Mum."

"I know, but according to you, the egg trick and the Council, you_ are_ a Slayer."

Catlin spoke in a subdued voice "I didn't think it ran in family's, you know, I thought... well I don't know what I thought but I didn't know this was going to happen."

"Neither did I, but remember honey, that Slayer's don't normally live long enough to have families let alone triplets."

"Then, I might not die. The whole Slayer thing might get the chance to go to another generation."

"Honey, you're fifteen years old, you all are, and the idea of you or your brother or sister producing another generation just yet terrifies me almost as much as the idea that my eldest has just become a Slayer."

"I'm only the oldest by four minutes and I keep having it thrown back in my face." She joked, tensely.

"I think we're getting off topic here Catie."

"I think I want us to be off track. The track is scary. I first saw Mum kill a vampire when I was five and I took my first one last year and whatever happened I was going to keep killing these things until..."

"...Until you find, and kill, the one that killed your mother?"

She nodded and looked away quickly. "I'm still scared though Dad, but I can't let myself get really scared, it'll help them to beat me and I won't...I can't... do that."

They both jumped as the telephone ran, her father got up to answer it but Catie already knew who was on the other end of the line.

"Catie it's the Council


	3. Lies

**Chapter 2**

**Lies**

Cate put the 'phone back on its cradle gently, a grumpy look on her face.

"What did the Council want Catie?" She glanced up at her fathers expectant face, she knew what he wanted her to say they had said, he wanted them to have said, it had all been a giant mistake, that she wasn't a Slayer, that he wasn't going to risk losing one of his daughters the same way he had lost his beloved wife. She hated that she had to disappoint him this way.

"They confirmed it...I am a Slayer... and they want us to move."

She watched his face closely, she knew him too well for him to lie to her, but as she watched she realized he was too stunned to even try lying.

"Move...how can we...where?"

He'd had previous experience with the Council and knew that the only too well that they would only make the effort to move a whole family if there was absolute need to do so.

"They got you a new job!" She said with false brightness, trying to inject a positive aspect into the whole thing.

Her father looked at her, his eyes betraying how buzzed his mind was.

"Where are we going?"

"Some place in California called Sunnydale. It's on a Hellmouth apparently!" Same false brightness, "And California...Sunshine..."

"And the job?" Her father asked wearily.

"In the Sunnydale ER, which Hellmouth, so it'll be busy!"

"Catie, stop being perky, you're not perky most of the time, so right now it really doesn't suit you."

"Dad...It's not going to be like before..."

"Catie!..." He sighed and looked at his daughter for a moment, his beautiful baby, or at least one of them and the flicker of her suffering the same fate as her mother, lying across a grave stone with her throat ripped out, with the person she loved stumbling across her corpse and never recovering completely from it. Of that person seeing that image whenever he closed his eyes for the rest of his days, the image of his baby, dead, in the most horrific way.

He averted his eyes from his daughter as he swallowed his fear. He knew he couldn't be afraid. He had to be strong for her... for them all.

"So what do we tell your brother and sister?"

"What? I mean California's cool and all, but I have a life here, friends, a reputation to maintain, ya know. " Eleanor maintained dramatically, throwing her arms into the air.

Alex stood, leaning against the door frame oozing relaxation as usual. As Ellie was to her father, sharp featured and blond, with alabaster skin and blue eyes, Alex was a mixture of the two of his parents, his dark hair was his mothers but the wave in it was his fathers, his sharp face belonged to his father, but his dark eyes and skin were his mothers. Catie was purely her mother, to the extent that looking at a 'photo of her mother at the same age they could have been the same person, olive skin, dark wavy hair and deep chocolate eyes, that people felt they could swim in if they looked into them for long enough.

She and Ellie had the same sort of strutting attitude, but while Catie' used it to be threatening while she was out finding stuff to kill, while Ellie used it to pull off ruling the school, her attitude drew certain types of people to her and terrified other people. And Catie hated her for it. Alex was just relaxed, he was adored in school, many of Catie and Ellie's contemporaries thought he was deeply attractive, someone to drool over.

Ellie sneered at him for not making use of that 'popularity currency', as he had inherited some of his mothers inbuilt athleticism. He could have been the ultimate jock, but he was too damn relaxed, to damn lazy to make use. He was also one of Catie's greatest and closest friends.

"Well El' it's a great job, far more money plenty of prestige." He father said gently, knowing exactly how his other daughter ticked, how to get her to calm down.

Prestige, status, the idea of her father acquiring more of it shut Ellie up.

"Off to school, guys...Catie, a word."

Cate hung back and waited to speak to her father.

"It'll take a week to draw you guys out of school. The Council have the transfers ready for you guys, to Sunnydale High. They have a new house for us to move into and the job is ready for me to move into. So we can do this without raising too many eyebrows. So, what do you want to tell them?"

She turned away from her father, with her heart heavy and shouldered her backpack.

"Nothing." She said sadly, "they didn't realize when it was Mum, so they won't when it's me. So, we tell them nothing."

She walked out, and her father grabbed behind him to support his weight on the breakfast bar, as the tears ran down his face and a, seemingly, premature grief for his oldest daughter took him in waves.


	4. Goodbyes

**Chapter 4**

**Goodbyes**

"Well, could Ellie go with your dad and you and Lex stay here?"

Catie looked at Matty, Matilda Andrews, and raised a sarcastic eyebrow at her best friend, before pretending to sink deep into thought.

"Hmm, could my father be convinced to go and live on the other side of the world of the planet, taking only the most irritating of his three children with him, whilst leaving the other two here to do, lets face it, exactly what they want, which in Alex's case would be to sleep until he couldn't use his limbs due to muscle wastage, only on the say so of Matty Andrews, international relations expert? Much as I want it to be true, I really think not!"

"Well, what about just Lex then?"

"Mattie! And I thought you loved me best!?"

"I do, but as a straight woman, I just don't find you have quite as much sex appeal as your brother does."

"Eww I totally don't want to think of my brother that way!"

The talk trailed off and her friend watched Catie sadly, of all those Catlin had to say goodbye to she knew Matty would be one of the hardest. Her oldest friend. The only one who had been in her life long enough to meet her her mother and steadfast enough to see her through the worst of her grief at her loss. How could she say goodbye?

"We'll have email and the phone and stuff and you could come and visit me some holidays and I could come and visit you others... Anyway I'm eighteen soon and then I can come straight back."

Even as she was saying it Cate wondered if her oldest friend could tell that she was lying, could see her fear that she would not live long enough after this move to reach eighteen, let alone get to the stage in her life, where, if she stayed true to her calling she could ever consider coming back.

Her brother Lex's attitude to leaving his friends was a great deal more relaxed, as if it could ever be anything else.

Observe: "My dad got a new job and we all have to move to California at the end of the week."

"Dude!"

"I know."

As for Ellie you could hear the response of her and hers to the news from several miles away. The level of weeping and screaming could be hear from so far away that Cate rolled her eyes, thinking that 'from the level of noise it was Ellie wandering off to her death on the other side of the planet, not me. Hmm' she mused 'there was a tempting but unforgivable thought.

At the hospital where he worked her father got a leaving party, with a cake, that had been specially made for the occasion with the logo from the television program 'ER' iced on to it. A very good job at very short notice he thought ruefully.

He watched Doctor Morris, Hannah, wistfully, she was another consultant from his department who he had always wanted to see more of, but, things had never been right. Either it had been too soon after the death of his beloved wife, to him not having the time because he had three teenage children to take care of, one of which, from the age of thirteen had gone out looking for things to kill to avenge her mothers death, which to his mind was more a case of 'new and interesting ways to get yourself killed'. And now that child had an official duty to go out and find things to kill, on the

ther side of the world, thus removing all chance of him ever getting around to asking Doctor Morris out for dinner. No moving on for Chris.

But for them all the hardest goodbye was yet to come. After school and work they stood by the grave each clutching a bunch of flowers, each with something to say.

"Bye Mum. I promise we'll be back eventually and even if we're not we'll never forget you. Ever. I really wish you were here." Catie started sadly.

"I miss you Mum." Ellie stated.

"Cya Mum" Alex said simply, but Catie could see the deep, true sadness pushed into that single short statement. They each placed their bunch of flowers on the grave.

Their father stood with his shoulders bowed. Catie took the silent hint and dragged her brother and sister away.

"We're leaving, Kara, for Catie to take your place as the Slayer and I'm afraid I can't help but be a little angry with you for that somehow. I do know it's not your fault though, but she's right, I do wish you were here to help her, to help us all. I know she'll be alright, because she learned from the best, love, she learned from you. I promise you I'll keep her as safe as I can for you. For us. I love you and I miss you. Every day I expect to find it's eased a bit and I miss you a little less, but it never seems to. We're not really leaving you, you know? I know you're with us every step of the way. I love you, then now and always."

He put his flowers down on the grave.

"To California then, my darling." he said softly.

They moved out of the house they had grown up in the next morning, each touching objects, that could not be moved as they left, as if contact with a work surface or a door frame would crystallize the memories attached to them, to this place. Their memories of growing up, of wins and losses, of births and deaths, of grief and joy and of her, their mother, his wife.

They all left the house, a home in limbo, no longer theirs but as yet unsold, with pain in their hearts and some excitement at the new start, at sunshine, at what was to come.

And Catie's last thought as the home she grew up in left her sight was rather grimmer than those of her siblings. It was 'Roll on the Hellmouth!'


	5. Family

**Chapter 5**

**Family**

The plane journey was excruciatingly slow, particularly as the girls' major mediating influence, Alex, had decided he didn't fancy the the in flight movie, plugged the complementary headphones into the in flight radio station and promptly done what most sensible people aren't able to do on long flights over water, but Alex could do on a clothes line, leaving the girls to twitter and argue for the whole of a very long flight and their father clinging on to his sanity by the skin of his teeth for quite a long while.

The family arrived at a large house to find the furniture had already been installed and the boxes of knick-knacks and family curios in boxes stacked in their new living room.

The children, even Catie, charged into the house, bickering good naturedly about who got which room, eventually even going so far as to drag their father into the argument, with him eventually settling the biggest sticking point by announcing in a very tongue in cheek manner that, "As the head of the house I will be taking the master bedroom which is in the attic space, it's a whole big dominance thing apparently. Also as I'm the one with the job, and therefore the most paperwork, I'll be taking the little room with all the shelves in it and referring to it herewith as my study. Questions? No? Good. Then I'll leave you to duke it out for the other rooms between you. Try not to kill each other."

Catie rolled her eyes at her father, visualizing what would happen if she decided to take her father literally. Ellie would be a sticky paste on the floor, years of sibling rivalry channeled through tenuous permission and her new Slayer powers, while in all probability, Alex would watch it all, then raise his hands in resignation and shove his earphones back in.

She shoved the thoughts away as Ellie spoke "Well, I think I should have the next biggest room, because, obviously, I have the most stuff." She announced smugly.

"Actually" Alex put in, in a rare intrusion into his sister rows "I've read the houses specifications and seeing as Dad's taken the big room on the top floor, with the en suite, all the rooms are about the same size, so, really it just depends on what you want to see out of your window."

With that he jumped up and headed up the stairs with the best turn of speed his sisters had ever seen him manage. They stood flabbergasted, staring after him in speechless amazement for a moment, before recovering themselves enough to pelt up the stairs after him.

In the new attic room he had reserved for himself, their father listened to the sound of his children arguing, the sound of running feet and the crash and giggles as in a rare act of cooperation his daughters teamed up to rugby tackle their brother in order to prevent him from getting the room with the best view based on running speed and ability to render them momentarily useless, and smiled.

It seemed like a long time since he had heard that sort of things in his old house which had become so full of grief.

'Perhaps' he mused 'if I can help Catie out, keep them all safe, things could work out here, be okay.'

Unfortunately, the illusion was rapidly shattered when Catie knocked, then, without waiting, stuck her head through the doorway.

"I'm off out. It's getting dark and I'd like to get the lie of the land, figure out the geography and what I'm dealing with, before I get involved in any serious killing."

Her father looked at her mournfully for a moment and then stood. He strode over to her and dropped a small metal key into her hand before pulling her close for a hug. She clung to him, feeling that to let him go would be to let go of her old life completely. He spoke into her hair. "It's for the metal cupboard in the study. I'm told it's content is for you. A gift from the Watchers Council. Go and have a look. And when you do go out, be careful."

"I will Dad. I promise."

"Good." He broke the hug "Now go."

She slipped into the study, and opened the cupboard. A wealth of weaponry glimmered out her and on a shelf lined with stakes she saw something else. A dull glimmer caught her attention. It announced a silver slider ring, something she had always wanted. She picked it up and turned it. Inside, in tiny writing was an engraving of the words:

_'To my daughter, the next generation, I leave the world. Love Mum.'_

Catie smiled at this, and raised her head to address the air. "I knew you were still with us." She slipped the ring onto her thumb, after examining the unintelligible scripting on the outside part of the slider grinned to find that it fit perfectly, tooled up and left the house to take in her new domain, her new battlefield.


	6. First friend in town

**Chapter 6**

**First friend in town.**

Catie wandered, taking in her new hunting grounds, 'no, Cate, neighborhood' she chided herself inwardly, though if she was honestly wondering what the hunting was like around here. If she was honest, she thought that aside from not needing a coat things didn't seem that much different here than they were at home. In fact considering this place was supposed to be on a Hellmouth, so far it seemed to be pretty darn tame.

She was just allowing her boredom threshold to drag her homeward she heard a scuffle and a low growl. "Oh well," she said ruefully to herself "here we go." She lowered her head, sighed and jogged in the direction of the sound, pulling her stake from her pocket as she went. It was time to test out her new Slayer skills.

However, when she got there what she found surprised her more than a little. A girl of about her own age, dark hair tied back in a loose bun, a hairstyle obviously meant to prevent grabbing than for its fashion value, even though, Cate thought, she pulled the style off well. The girl had her jaw set at a determined angle, handling a vampire with confidence, even though she was no more a Slayer than Ellie was.

The girl glanced up as Catie ran into the park where the other girl was fighting. Even as she entered the park, Cate knew that the vampire that the other girl had dusted was not the only one there.

The other girl knew this too. She looked up as Cate. "Run." The girl called.

Cate came to stand at the side of the other girl. "Sorry, don't do running."

"What do you do then?"

"I fight."

"Well, that's pretty good, because there're too many here for me to deal with them all myself.".

There were three vampires, who surrounded the two young women, snickering. "Fresh meat." The leader said.

"Hmm, fresh ashes, I've been looking for some fun since I started getting my rage problem."

The other girl looked at Cate "You have a rage problem?"

"I won't soon."

Both girls stepped forward weapons ready. Cate launched herself at the first vampire, dusting him before he had a chance to react, she turned to help the other girl, but found herself simply watching as the other girl head butted her vamp and staked him while he was still falling, before both of them turned on the leader of the now defunct gang. The fight was swift and violent and ended with the girl and Cate walked away slapping dust off their clothes

"By the way I'm Cate" The new Slayer offered her hand.

"I'm Dawn and I'm assuming from the way that I just saw you fight back there, that you're a Slayer."

"While bang goes my secret identity!" Cate said with a laugh in her voice "Guilty as charged, but how did you know?"

"Because...because it's my sister you're replacing." The words came out in a rush.

"Oh Gods I'm sorry...I...Well, I suppose I don't know what to say... 'cept maybe that I know how you feel, my Mum was a Slayer."

Her new friend, Dawn, looked away, and shook her head to clear the fog of grief that threated to overwhelm her, at talking about her sister in the past tense less than a month after her death, at accepting that the appearance of the replacement superhero meant that she was really never coming back. She also chose not to press Cate about her mother as the fact that they were stood here talking about Buffy's death, meant that her mother hadn't made it.

"So, I guess I'd better take you to meet Giles and the gang."

"Giles and the gang?"

"Giles is the Watcher in these parts and the gang, the Scoobies. They help...helped Buffy, they have tonnes of knowledge, with the research and stuff. Willow and Tara are really cool witches. Anya used to be a vengeance demon, but then, Giles did something and then she wasn't a demon any more, then she met Xander and I didn't used to exist, but I feel like I always did and Spike... well, we'll talk about him later."

"That wouldn't be Rupert Giles would it?"

"Yeah, why?"

"My parents knew him."

"Did you cut me off because I was babbling?"

"Little bit. Anyway it's extreme late, I have a little jet lag going on and my Dad will worry. Can we do the Watcher and gang, meet and greet, thing tomorrow?"

"Sure you'll really like them." Dawn stopped in front of a neat little suburban house "This where I get off. Meet here tomorrow?"

"Yep, cya then, it was nice to meet you."

"You too, you can count me as your first friend in town if you'd like?"

"I'll do that, thanks."

Cate watched Dawn to safety and headed home with a spring in her step.

'I have a new friend in town. Before Ellie!' She thought happy and a little, if guiltily, triumphant.


	7. So, who are ya?

**Chapter 7**

**So, who are you?**

Cate left the house early the next morning and headed up to Revello Drive to pick up Dawn and go into town.

She picked Dawn up and they walked into town chatting all the way, until they reached a store in town.

"The Magic Box?" Cate looked at Dawn for an explanation.

"It's a Wiccan supply shop. Giles, erm, Mr Giles, who used to be Buffy's Watcher before... he runs it and the gang hang out there a lot."

Dawn shoved the door to the store, setting the little bell above the door tinkling. Cate stepped in behind her and took the second silence to check out the small group arrayed around the little shop.

A small blond woman jiggled almost psychotically behind the dash register, one the opposite side of the counter was a tall, dark, man, with floppy, dark, hair and a wide ready grin that he turned full beam on Cate. Two young women, one blond haired, one a redhead, both studying books from an untidy pile, stacked on a circular table. They also smiled and the red haired girl offered the opening gambit.

"Hey Dawnie, who's your friend?"

"Hey, Will, this is..."

As she was about to answer the question, the connecting door to the training room swung open. Giles wandered in through the door, balancing a teacup in his right hand, which crashed to the floor as he first laid eyes on Dawns new friend.

"Kara...No..You're..."

Cate cut in quickly, not particularly wanting to be the subject of the older mans wide eyed staring, for a second longer.

"...Dead, yes she is, but I'm not and I'm here. I'm her oldest daughter Catlin. It's nice to finally meet you."

Dawn interrupted again. "This is Cate. Cate, this is Willow, Tara, Anya, Xander and Giles, you know." she indicated everyone in their turn. "How do you know Giles?" Her tone was confused.

"We just sort of know of each other don't we Mr Giles?"

"I...I...I knew her parents, a long time ago. Her mother was also a Slayer."

"Also?" Willow chimed in.

"It's a family thing. I'm just sorry I was too young to help your friend, but, hopefully I'm not to young now to slay unspeakable demons and hopefully I live long enough to drink here."

Willow smiled, remembering the time that Buffy had said the exact same phrase.

Xander butted in, attempting to move the topic off Cate's impending, nasty, pointy death, less then twelve minutes after meeting her, they should leave it at least that long.

"So, aside from being the new Slayer, who are ya?"

She grinned at him, appreciating the dodge, and deciding to run with it.

"Well, I'm English and the Slayer, to state the obvious, I killed my first vampire when I was thirteen. I'm a triplet, non-identical, I have a brother and a sister, Lex and Ellie. I'm a Wiccan, inherited from my mother, so this place will hopefully be useful and I play guitar, very badly, in my now extremely limited free time. I met Dawn, while we were both out hunting and we had the highly effective bonding experience of killing stuff together. She was good by the way."

"Yeah, we understand that, that's how we met Buffy." Willow said. She glanced at Giles, who was still standing, staring, wide eyed and useless at the girl.

"Well, Tara and I have to go to class now." She said this in heavy tones and stared hard at Xander and Anya and Xander managed to get the hint.

"Yeah, me and Anya have this 'thing to do and ooh, Dawn we need you to come too!"

Dawn raised an eyebrow "I really don't know if I want to be involved in any 'thing' that you guys decide to do, suddenly, in the middle of the day."

"Trust us Dawnie, it's not bad." He glanced at Cate "It was nice to meet you." He towed Dawn away, and Cate heard the promise of ice cream, later in the day.

"Yeah it was nice to meet you" Willow said cheerfully "Dawn I'll yell at you for going out hunting when we get home."

Dawn rolled her eyes and called out to Cate. "I'll cya at school tomorrow I'll meet you out front. Bye Giles."

"Thanks" Cate called at Dawn's retreating figure.

The older man did not offer an answer and after she was sure all the others had left, the new Slayer spoke, in slow measured tones.

"So, what do you want to talk about first, Mr Giles? The Mark of Igon, or any reasons you can come up with, why I shouldn't kill you where you stand?"


End file.
